We have minority communities in this country which come from backgrounds where corruption is endemic

Attorney General Dominic Grieve

"It is something as politicians we have to wake up to.

"I can see many of them have come because of the opportunities that they get. But they also come from societies where they have been brought up to believe you can only get certain things through a favour culture.

"One of the things you have to make absolutely clear is that that is not the case and it's not acceptable."

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood told BBC Radio 5 Live that he was disturbed by Mr Grieve's comments.

He added that the Attorney General was trying to "divide and conquer" within communities.

The comments from Mr Grieve have been blasted by Labour MP Khalid Mahmood [AFP]

Mr Mahmood said: "I'm profoundly disturbed at a statement from such a senior Conservative MP against the British Pakistani community," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

"This doesn't help bring communities together.

The Attorney General added that the country's infrastructure may be put under strain if large numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians come into the UK next year.

He pinpointed electoral fraud as an area of concern, which echoes comments made in 2010 by Conservative MP Baroness Warsi.

Lady Warsi old the New Statesman magazine there were "at least three seats where we lost, where we didn't gain the seat, based on electoral fraud" and said the problems were "predominantly within the Asian community".